Thursday, April 23, 2009

London Ontario's Best Bike Shops for the Annoying Customer

Since I have gotten into building up my own bikes over the past couple of years, I have become a rather annoying bike shop customer. I show little to no interest in complete bicycles. I often ask for parts that nobody would normally have on hand, but am reluctant to order them. Since I get bits and pieces from all over the place including eBay and Internet stores, I seldom represent much profit to any one retailer, yet take a lot of the staff's time asking all kinds of obscure questions. I read tons of stuff online and take strange biases and beliefs about what I need into the store with me that I'm sure seem stupid much of the time. Normal people develop a relationship with one or two stores and do almost all their business with them. I show no particular loyalty to any one store, but shop my annoying self around.

Don't get me wrong; I do buy / order stuff at some local bike shops (LBSs). I also represent the more rare customer who is interested in and buys bike stuff year-round. Overall, though, if I was running a bike shop, I might hide in the back if I saw myself coming in yet again.

Most people have experienced specialty stores that make you feel stupid and annoying and nowhere near well-heeled enough to warrant serious attention. I have certainly felt this in some bike shops. Shopping for guitars or other musical instruments has left the same sort of bad taste in my mouth.

I just don't get it... why do some retail staff need to rub your nose in how much you don't know or can't afford? This post was supposed to be about just giving some praise to the London bike shops I like best, but when I look at my list, I see a pattern: the shops that have treated me best are small enough that the victim of my aforementioned faults is more often than not the owner, or a singularly passionate employee.

The theory I'm currently hatching is that the people working in some of the larger stores have insecurity complexes about working in retail at all, and these complexes manifest themselves in stand-offish, dismissive behaviour. It's a kind of "I may work in a retail store, but man are you stupid" defence mechanism. Please note: I worked in retail as a sales person for many years, longer than friends and family thought I should, after graduating from University. I get how crummy customers can be, but I hope I didn't act like that. I don't think I did, but self-perception is a tricky thing; who knows?

Anyway, this post is about giving some praise to the shops who put up with me best, and they are as follows, in no particular order. Please note that the businesses I mention here don't have any foreknowledge that I'm singing their praises, and therefore certainly haven't paid me anything:

First Cycleworks - 525 First Street - hands-on, really experienced bike people. Better than most for BMX and MTB, as far as I can tell. More Details.

Village Cycle - 344 Ridout St S. - zero attitude, much help and info, and a real love of all cycling. More Details.

South London Cycle - 479 MacGregor Ave - repair central, also good for finding Park and other tools. More Details.

12 comments:

I have said for years that I would rather sell tools and parts than spend my life fixing minor stuff customers could have done for themselves quickly and cheaply, if they only dared to try.

From a shop owner's standpoint, time is money. So some of the dismissiveness may stem from a shop policy to discourage unprofitable loitering. That opens the shop to charges that it isn't a friendly place, so it may ultimately be worse for profits, as people shop there only for bargains.

Some seekers of deeper cycling knowledge are more annoying than others. As in any teaching situation, if the student seems to be getting it, the teacher feels rewarded. If the student is just an unfillable black hole of the same ignorant notions over and over, one wants to club him with a large wrench.

Every specialty shop I've worked in has employed bright people with twisted senses of humor. In that vein we would sometimes indulge in comically inappropriate behavior toward customers, including a put-on condescension that we might not realize until too late had been taken seriously. We're trapped in the box all day, improvising scenes in our theater of the absurd.

On the other hand, some people are just assholes. This is true on either side of the counter.

One thing for YOU to remember: building bikes is habit forming. You might think you can quit any time you want, but soon you will look at every discarded frame and part as something you might use. You might even end up working in a shop!!!

Is it okay to use old engine oil from the lawn mower for you bike chains?

I am not a fantaic cycilist but I am in th midst of TRYING to teach my six year old duaghter how to ride a bike with training wheels. Wow I thought rocket science was hard to understand, this is crazy!

So if anybody could give me the dirty on this oil slicking question, that would be great. Keep in mind I have a CCM bike that does not fully function on all gears.

Dogfart! My boss, who has raised two young 'uns, recommends teaching them at an early age to ride without training wheels by lowering the seat, removing the pedals and letting them learn, on a safe surface like a lawn, how to scooter along with their feet pushing off the ground. In the process they learn to coast and lean. Pedaling apparently comes easily once they master the coasting and leaning part. It worked for his two. And he got it from Bicycling Magazine or some such authority.

As for the waste oil on the chain, it's a heavy lube that will attract further nasty abrasives to your drive train. Lighter lubes work better except in sustained very wet conditions.

Do you mean the higher prices in bike stores compared to department stores?

Most bike people will tell you you're better off with "proper" bike from a bike shop, and I agree. You do pay a little more, but it will last longer and likely run much better, which will encourage you to ride rather than bog you down.